Within several months, they started dating, and their relationship progressively grew more serious.

Williams told WXMI that Brussow, who was on vacation with his girlfriend and her family, sat down with her family after she went to bed one night and asked permission to marry her.

“When we started dating he always told me, he said, ‘Since the first time I saw you, I knew I was gonna marry you,'” Williams said. “We had everything planned out already. He had our whole wedding planned out, too and we weren’t even engaged or anything.”

The next day, before sunrise, Brussow went hiking with his girlfriend’s brother Eric and asked him for permission as well.

Just moments later, though, the pair were swept out into the water. Eric was able to grab onto a rock and get back ashore but Brussow disappeared. According to Fox, he ran a mile to get help for Jonathan before being taken to the hospital with broken ribs and cuts to his body.

A search of several days involving dozens of people eventually led to the discovery of Brussow’s body.

Williams said she’ll never forget Brussow.

“He absolutely loved his life. He had no regrets. He had no complaints,” Williams says. “I’ve never, ever experienced or seen anybody love somebody so genuinely like he actually loved me. It just blows me away, the person he was. The person he still is.”

The families have started a fundraiser on GoFundMe that will in part pay for the installation of a safety device on the Glass Window Bridge, located near where Brussow was swept out to sea.

“Brad [Brussow’s father] would like to offer the Bahamian people a memorial in Jonathan’s honor of safety gear at the bridge so that others may be offered help quicker,” wrote a family friend.

“The ideas continue to pour in…and they all take money.”

Family members praised the help by locals and said some of the money will go toward reimbursing expenses.

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